Manicuring

Marijuana Horticulture

by Jorge Cervantes

Once harvested, carefully manicure buds by cutting large leaves where they attach to the stem. Leaving the petiole (leaf stem) can cause mold to grow. Snip off smaller, low potency leaves around buds that show little resin, so a beautiful THC potent bud remains.

Manicuring is easiest when leaves are soft and supple immediately after harvest. Trimming off leaves now will also speed drying. Waiting until foliage is dry t manicure will make manicuring buds a tedious, time consuming job.

Manicuring is easiest with a good pair of trimming scissors that has small blades to facilitate reaching in and snipping off leaf petioles at the main stem. An ergonomic pair of scissors with comfortable handles is indispensable when manicuring cannabis for hour.

Manicure over a fine silkscreen or a glass table. Scrape up fallen resin glands on the table or under the screen. This potent resin can be smoked immediately or pressed into blocks of hash.

Wear inexpensive rubber gloves to collect “finger hash”. After trimming for a few hours, remove accumulated finger hash on gloves by bathing in small portion of isopropyl alcohol. Set the hash-laden alcohol on the counter overnight to evaporate. Scrape up the remaining hash after all the alcohol has evaporated. Or put the rubber gloves in a freezer for a few hours. Cooling will make it easier to scrape and rub the accumulated hash from gloves.

Scrape accumulated resin from scissors when it impairs blade movement. Use a small knife to remove built up resin from blades. Ball up small bits of scraped resin by rubbing it together between fingers. The ball of hash will grow as manicuring progresses.

Budget enough time to harvest and manicure your crop. Properly manicuring one pound takes from four to six hour by hand with scissors and one to two hours when using and automatic trimmer.